Benchmarking Equipment Against Your Needs

Buyer’s Guide: Benchmarking Equipment Against Your Needs

If you haven’t already downloaded it, you may find this Excel file helpful in benchmarking equipment against your requirements. You’ll want the second worksheet in the file, “Benchmarking Sheet,” for this purpose.

At this point in the equipment selection process, it’s just a matter of making a chart of your requirements alongside the specifications of the different machines you’re looking at.

Your requirements

You calculated your feeder slot requirements in section 4: Feeder Slot Requirements. You figured out your component and board specs and used the CPH calculator to determine your speed requirement in section 3: Identifying your product specifications. So all that’s left is to pop that information into the “PCB Requirement” column of your chart.

Equipment capabilities

Next, for each piece of equipment you’re looking at, you’ll fill in an “Equipment Data” column with the manufacturer’s specs. Of course, instead of “required” for feeder slots and placement speed, you’ll insert “feeder slots available” and “CPH rating.” Make sure to de-rate the CPH as discussed in section 2: How manufacturers specify equipment. You can use our CPH calculator to do that.

Some examples

We have put together a few examples of how to use the benchmarking chart:

Our first example is for a low-volume assembler. Here are the details:

Annual board requirement: 10,500

Unique components per board: 43

Placements per board: 225

Board length: 7″

Board width: 5″

Minimum size component: 0603

Maximum size component: SOIC8 (4.9mm X 6mm)

Fine pitch requirement: 0.050″

And here is the chart comparing the assembler’s requirements against a specific pick and place machine:

PCB Requirement

Equipment Data

PCB Example 01

Model: 7722

Feeder Slots

Feeder Slots Required

44 (42 8-mm & one 12-mm)

54 8-mm slots

Tube/Stick Parts

0

8-stick feeder mounts on left side of system

Matrix Tray Parts

0

JEDEC 330×135 for feeder base or PCB area

Component Handling

Smallest Part

0603

0201 (w/nozzle)

Largest Part

SOIC8

40 mm x 40 mm

Smallest lead pitch

0.050″

0.020″

Board Handling

Board Size Minimum

5″ x 7″

2″ x 2″

Board Size Maximum

15.4″ x 12.2″

Placement Speed Required

Board CPH Requirement

1350 cph

1960 (de-rated by 30%)

Our second example is for a mid-volume assembler. Here are the details:

Annual board requirement: 22,000

Unique components per board: 50

Placements per board: 325

Board length: 8″

Board width: 10″

Minimum size component: 0402

Maximum size component: 28 mm x 28 mm

Fine pitch requirement: 0.015″ Lead Pitch QFP 256

And here is the chart comparing the assembler’s requirements against a specific pick and place machine:

PCB Requirement

Equipment Data

PCB Example 02

Model: MC-385V2V

Feeder Slots

Feeder Slots Required

54 (45 8-mm + one stick feeder)

128 8-mm slots

Tube/Stick Parts

5 lanes

10-lane feeder requires 9 slots

Matrix Tray Parts

1

Component Handling

Smallest Part

0402

01005 (w/nozzle)

Largest Part

28 mm x 28 mm

150 mm x 100 mm

Smallest lead pitch

0.015″

0.012″

Board Handling

Board Size Minimum

8″ x 10″

2″ x 2″

Board Size Maximum

13.8″ x 17.1″ w/o tray holder
12.6″ x 8.6″ w/tray holder

Placement Speed Required

Board CPH Requirement

4225 cph

4800 cph (de-rated by 20%)

Our final example is for a mid-volume assembler dealing with a high component mix. Here are the details:

Annual board requirement: 19,500

Unique components per board: 89

Placements per board: 213

Board length: 12″

Board width: 10″

Minimum size component: 0201

Maximum size component: BGA208 (23mm X 23mm)

Fine pitch requirement: 0.050″ Ball Pitch BGA 208

A machine’s ability to hold multiple matrix tray parts will best accommodate the production need:

PCB Requirement

Equipment Data

PCB Example 03

Model: MC-388

Feeder Slots

Feeder Slots Required

90 (81 8-mm & 9 stick feeders)

256 8-mm slots

Tube/Stick Parts

8

Avail (subtract 9 slots per 10 sticks)

Matrix Tray Parts

4

3 to 6 avail., full JEDEC location

Component Handling

Smallest Part

0201

01005 (w/nozzle)

Largest Part

23 mm x 23 mm

100 mm x 150 mm

Smallest lead pitch

0.050″

0.012″

Board Handling

Board Size Minimum

12″ x 10″

2″ x 2″

Board Size Maximum

12.5″ x 47″ with conveyor
12.5″ x 43″ without conveyor
(It would be 16″ instead of 12.5″ without the matrix trays)

Placement Speed Required

Board CPH Requirement

2556 cph

4480 (de-rated by 30%)

Making the comparison

Once you have your chart completed, it will be easy to determine which machines won’t be suitable for your needs at all. That may narrow the field down to just one machine, which would make your decision a simple one! Or you may find yourself with a number of contenders still on the list.

This is where you compare warranties, availability of installation and training, level of service and support, software, options, and the qualities of the companies themselves: years in business, satisfied customers, etc.

You may have other questions when it comes to purchasing a pick and place machine, including:

Should I buy used or new?

What about assembling LED light panels?

Should I buy a pick and place machine—or outsource my assembly needs?

Should I buy a pick and place machine—or assemble my products by hand?